Warner Saunders (January 30, 1935, Chicago, Illinois – October 9, 2018, Chicago, Illinois) was a 10 PM news co-anchor for

WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (c ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Saunders' primary co-anchor in the NBC 5 evening newscasts was

Allison Rosati Allison Kay Rosati (born February 12, 1963) is the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscast co-anchor for WMAQ-TV in Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago, in the United States. Early life Rosati was born in Dover, Delaware and grew up in Pine City, ...

. A Chicago native, Saunders held a bachelor's degree from

Xavier University of Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana (also known as XULA) is a private, historically black, Catholic university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only Catholic HBCU and, upon the canonization of Katharine Drexel in 2000, became the first Cathol ...

and a master's degree from

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

. He and his wife, Sadako, lived in Chicago.

Career

He was a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame and the Chicago Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Silver Circle. He was once President of the Chicago Association of Black Journalists (1996–97). He produced a series of reports from South Africa in 1990 on the historic release of Nelson Mandela, culminating in the documentary titled '' South Africa: What Happens to a Dream Deferred?'' Saunders came to WMAQ from WBBM where he was Director of Community Affairs, host of Common Ground, and a children's show known to many kids as ''The Good Gang Express''. He portrayed a news anchorman in the second season of the drama series '' ER'', the show also being set in Chicago and airing on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. He played a similar role in the second season of ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White Hous ...

'', a show from the same producers as ''ER''. Saunders was a former public school teacher, youth worker and Boys Club Executive Director. A documentary for Chicago's

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Str ...

, ''The End of the Line'', spurred investigations of local gangs. His teaching career includes

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. ...

National College of Education National Louis University (NLU) is a private university with its main campus in Chicago, Illinois. NLU enrolls undergraduate and graduate students in more than 60 programs across its four colleges. It has locations throughout the Chicago metropol ...

(now

National Louis University National Louis University (NLU) is a private university with its main campus in Chicago, Illinois. NLU enrolls undergraduate and graduate students in more than 60 programs across its four colleges. It has locations throughout the Chicago metropol ...

Malcolm X College Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is a two-year college located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded as Crane Junior College in 1911 and was the first of the City Colleges. Crane ceased operations at th ...

, and

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

where he was voted teacher of the year for two consecutive terms. Saunders retired from the 5 PM and 6 PM newscasts and retired from the 10 PM newscast on May 20, 2009. He planned to pursue "diversity education". He publicly accused former Chicago newspaper columnist

Robert Feder Robert Feder (born May 17, 1956) is an American media blogger who was the television and radio columnist for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1980 until 2008, a blogger for Vocalo.org from 2009 until 2010, and a blogger for ''Time Out Chicago'' fro ...

of racism during Feder's career at the ''Sun-Times''. His career in broadcasting was honored by the

Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum, the stated mission of which is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain through our archi ...

on May 16, 2009 during "A Salute to Warner Saunders", an event held at the Fairmont Hotel in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Death

On the evening of October 9, 2018, Saunders collapsed in Chicago and was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in Lincoln Park, where he was pronounced dead at age 83.

Awards

He won 20 Emmy Awards for news, sports, documentaries, children's shows, talk shows, and town meetings. Other awards included the Illinois Broadcasters Association Public Service Award, the

Gabriel Award The Gabriel Awards are a Catholic honor awarded each year for excellence in broadcasting. They were started by the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals in 1965, and are currently administered by the Catholic Media Association Th ...

, The Ohio State Award, and the 1999 Hull House Jane Addams Award for his commitment to the Chicago community.

Xavier University of Louisiana

Saunders was a standout basketball player at Xavier. He scored 32 points in a 71–67 home victory against city rival Dillard on January 11, 1956.

References

External links

NBCChicago.com biography

TheHistoryMakers.com biography

Louis Farrakhan interview with Warner Saunders
at the 21st annual convention of the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...

KUT Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...

's "

In Black America Produced at KUT, ''In Black America'' is a long-running, nationally syndicated program dedicated to all facets of the African American experience. John L Hanson Jr. profiles a diverse selection of current and historically significant figures wh ...

" radio series, September 1, 1997 at the

American Archive of Public Broadcasting The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The AAPB is a national effort to digital ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Warner Television anchors from Chicago American reporters and correspondents American television journalists Northeastern Illinois University alumni Indiana University faculty American male journalists 1935 births 2018 deaths Xavier University of Louisiana alumni